Dreamers of Alaska

To the 130th anniversary of the Russian-American transaction (1997)

Archival project "Radio Liberty this week 20 years ago." The most interesting and significant from the Archive of the Radio Freedom of twenty years ago. Incomplete story. Still living hopes. Could Russia go the other way?

Did Russia lose Alaska? The program involves: Vic Fisher - professor -local historian, Nikolai Bolkhovitinov - historian, Boris Paramonov - philosopher, Stephen Langdon - anthropologist. Author and presenter - Marina Efimova. For the first time on April 15, 1997.

Marina Efimova : Now, when the United States celebrates the 130th anniversary of the purchase of Alaska, everyone involuntarily recalls how four years ago this state was planning to separate, although Alaska and the state became in 1959-it is the penultimate of 49 states of America. The main organizer of the “riot”, so to speak, was the 74-year-old Governor of Alaska legendary Walter Hikel, the owner of the hotels, the rich man and the hot patriot of Alaska. Hikel filed a lawsuit of $ 29 billion for the “staff robbery” federal. The fact is that most of the territory of Alaska, including the areas rich in oil and gas, belong to the state, and the federal government turned a huge part of this territory into reserves, prohibiting the production of any industrial development on them. Hikel dreamed of the economic flowering of Alaska, about the economic boom. His plans included a high -speed highway to Chukotka, the railway along the entire Pacific coast of Alaska, the supply of remote Eskimos villages with electricity through satellite, and even an underground aqueduct in California three thousand kilometers long. I asked Vika Fisher, a professor at the University of Alaska in Ankoridge, the riot of Hikel ended.

Vic Fisher : Honestly, few accepted this lawsuit seriously. The fact is that in Alaska, as in many other states, the government uses its sovereign right to allocate any number of land for national parks and reserves. So no laws were violated and this business went anywhere.

Marina Efimova : But, indeed, as I understand it, the staff loses a lot of money on this, because we are talking about rich oil fields in the Arctic Reserve. In general, the federal government belongs to 60 percent of the territory in Alaska.

Vic Fisher : Alaska is the richest state of America, and with a large margin. Moreover, this refers to per capita income. In Alaska there is the largest oil production throughout the North American continent. From these oil development, the staff receives 80 percent of its taxes, and each state citizen annually receives the so -called bonus, that is, a certain percentage of this income. Every man, every woman and every child receive a thousand dollars a year only because they live in Alaska and breathe in her air. This year, by the way, it will be $ 1,200. We do not pay the standard income tax and, like all rich people, we constantly want more and more. Alaska is a huge country, we are twice as much as the next state - Texas. We say that if the Alaskins cannot agree with each other, then we will share and become the two largest states of America. And only 600 thousand people live here. In terms of population density, it is as a Republic of Sakha, Yakutia. So Alaska is one of the few American states where a healthy balance of human activity and untouched nature is observed. The beauty of this nature is so primordial that it is criminal to destroy it.

River Koyukuk in the fall. Photo by Bill Raften

Marina Efimova : What happened to the projects of Governor Hikel?

Vic Fisher : The dream has always been the main engine in Alaska, and Governor Walter Hikel was a grand dreamer. While his dreams are far from realization. The conversations began about the road to Russia a hundred years ago, and it was not built because it is not economically justified, even now. This is a wonderful dream, like a bridge over the Bering Strait. Every 10-20 years, someone begins to talk about it, and not by chance-for sure it will someday be built. But Walter Hikel did not cease to make plans that, in its grandeur, are relevant to our state.

“On October 18, 1867, in the port of Sitka , a Russian military detachment marched under the drum battle along the grass slope of the hill in front of the Governor’s house and lined up in front of the flagpole, which developed a flag with a double-headed eagle. A drum battle was again heard and a detachment of Americans, who were supposed to lower the Russian flag and lift their, star-prone. The governor of Alaska Prince Maksutov and his 22-year-old beauty-wife, who was all the time wiped tears, were present during the ceremony surrounded by several close associates.

When they began to lower the Russian flag, a gust of wind flew and the flag wrapped the flagpole so, as if trying to stay in place that one of the soldiers had to get up and unravel it

The rest of the Russians did not come in protest against the sale of Alaska. When they began to lower the Russian flag, a gust of wind flew and the flag wrapped the flagpole so, as if trying to stay in place that one of the soldiers had to get up and unravel it. Unable to withstand the tension, the princess fainted. She recovered already abroad - the American flag developed over Alaska. "

Marina Efimova: So dramatically described the ceremony of selling Alaska in the book of traveler Bern Kitting. Russian historian, academician Nikolai Bolkhovitinov, in an interview with our Moscow correspondent, Ilya Dadashidze considers the significance of this transaction from the point of view of the then statesmen.

Nikolai Bolkhovitinov : This contract was beneficial for two powers. In Russia, this issue has been discussed for about ten years. Its initiator was Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich, the liberal brother of Emperor Alexander the Second. Of course, Russia lost a large territory, but Russian statesmen proceeded from the future to eliminate possible contradictions with the United States. In addition, in Alaska, practically Russians could not organize defense and it was clear that it was defenseless. During the Crimean War, this became especially obvious. The contract has contributed to our peaceful relations for many, many decades.

Ilya Dadashidze : There is an opinion that Russia first sold Alaska, and then regretted the deed, since gold deposits were opened there?

Nikolai Bolkhovitinov : They already knew about gold reserves in Russia at that time, and they were just afraid of the invasions of a huge number of adventurers-gold-sophisticates. There were only 800 people in Alaska during the sale period. This, of course, is an insignificant figure, therefore, in general, the king made the right decision. He believed that it was necessary to concentrate efforts on Siberia, on the Primorsky Territory, and not in distant overseas colonies, which did not bring real benefits to Russia at that time.

Ilya Dadashidze : From time to time, there is talk that Alaska was not completely sold and, in the end, will be returned to Russia.

Nikolai Bolkhovitinov : It is quite obvious here: the official agreement was signed, Alaska was sold forever, no deadlines were established there. Sometimes it is believed that very little was obtained. But at that time there were such prices. Louisiana, for example, Napoleon Bonaparte sold for $ 15 million. A vast territory! 7.2 million gold dollars were received here. This is about as much as Russia spent at that time on the maintenance of its fleet. Here is an example with Alaska. After all, then the United States did not want to ratify Alaska. And the royal diplomat, the messenger in Washington, had to give bribes for 165 thousand dollars. The United States did not know about the value that Alaska represented.

Unalashka. 2006. Photo by Vanetta Ayers

Marina Efimova : When in 1867 the then American Secretary of State William Stuart insisted on buying Alaska from Russia, at a price of about 4 centers per hectare, he became the subject of universal bullying. The congressmen called Alaska "Walrussia" from the words "Walrus" - "walrus" and "Russia". Many claimed that even fish did not live there, because the ocean is covered with a thick layer of ice, and the newspaper men immediately called Alaska "Stuart Eisbox" - "Stuart Glacier". Once in Oregon, I met at a party with a resident of Alaska and asked: is it true that the bay near the famous town of Skagway does not freeze? The Alaskan face was directly distorted by pain from such ignorance and he, restraining, explained that not a single Pacific port of Alaska was freezing, and that, except for the moving Gleet glaciers, you will find ice there, "only in your glass with a gin and tonic." Later I learned that the Alaskan fishing port of the Ketchikan, the “salmon capital of the world”, is located at the latitude of Dublin, Manchester or Hamburg, that Sitka, in the past, is the capital of Russian Alaska, is located south than St. Petersburg, and that the temperature never drops below the Aleut Islands. Our colleague Boris Paramonov tried to look at the fate of Alaska from the point of view of modern Russia.

Boris Paramonov : It is clear that the memories of Russian Alaska still do not let all kinds of patriots sleep. This is how it was possible to annoy America by putting rockets there! However, Alaska remained in Russia, the Bolsheviks would have arranged another Kolyma there. But, as it is now fashionable to say, history has no subjunctive mood, and it is useless to talk about the missed capabilities of Russian Alaska. Another thing is to try to extract a lesson from this fact of the sale of Alaska, a lesson for the future. The lesson is this: it is not necessary to trade mastered land, but you should not be afraid of trade like Zhupel either. The idea here is positive - not to be afraid to get into contact with the outside world. And you cannot come up with a better way for such contact than a trade exchange.

It is not necessary to trade mastered land, but you should not be afraid of trade like Zhupel either. The idea here is positive - not to be afraid to get into contact with the outside world

However, I am talking not only about foreign trade in the narrow sense, any export-import, but about a more urgent, but unusual practice for Russia, all kinds of concessions. That is, there is no need to be afraid to let foreigners on their native land if they go with good intentions and business offers. The trouble is that for Russian people, business offers are still perceived as unkind intentions. For example, the story with the southern Koreans, who had already been deceived in Russia at least twice in response to their proposal to build automobile plants in the Far East and in the Kaliningrad region, was amazed. People have already spent tens of millions of dollars, and they indicated them on the gate. Come on, now, judge! Returning to the phenomenon of Alaska, what needs to be understood in the first place? The plot is that there is a lot of land in Russia, and this is the most important value. It must be learned to use, use natural beauties and climatic diversity. There are truly breathtaking opportunities, for example, for international tourism. Russia can be made by some giant Switzerland. If you want - admire Lake Baikal, you want to - to hunt for bears. What is not the prospect, what is not the most true way to become a rich country? Let me remind you that now in America, tourism in the same Alaska has noticeably expands and has already become a very profitable business. Use your own land for enrichment, and not for placement of missiles - this is the best Russian idea.

Marina Efimova : Boris Paramonov mentioned a new, purely modern hypostasis of Alaska - a tourist one. Golders of the end of the last century, dying somewhere on a terrible white path, under snowstorms or in a whirlpool of Yukon, could not have dreamed of what is happening now in a dying dream. From July to August on the famous White Way, cars go to the bumper, and tourists eagerly look around the places where the heroes of Jack London passed. Dawson and Skagway became museums, regular steamers go to the galetra. One such trip was described by Bern Kitting.

Announcer : "The ferry entered the Gulf of Colombia, and our eyes appeared to the facade of the Colombian glacier 60 meters high and 4 kilometers wide. Captain Richard Hofstad himself went down to show his Alaskan treasure in all its glory." The ice wall continues under water, "he said, - to the bottom, and this is another and a half, and this is another one and a half. meters. Gletcher moves at a speed of about one and a half meters a day, but at this time of the year his speed sometimes reaches three meters. Do you see how he hangs over the water? Soon the piece will fall off. Let me rush it. "The captain returned to the cabin and gave a long beep. With a roar and thunderous roller, tons of ice fell into the water, went deep, and then emerged again." Hold on to the railing! ", Someone shouted, and a few seconds later the first wave hit the board."

Marina Efimova : They say that there is no person who, having been in Alaska, would not have written a whole book about this. And this itch is made understandable when you read Michael Modzelevsky’s essay “Inside Passage”, about the famous inner Alaskan path, that is, about a raid on internal waters protected from the open ocean of a ridge.

Inside Passage (Inside Passage), Alaska. Photo by Pat W.Sanders

Announcer : "Inside Passage" changes the scale of the world. Cedars along its shores reach a 75-meter height. Between the trees, sometimes a three -meter brown bear weighing a ton suddenly rises to the hind legs. One royal salmon occupies the entire kitchen table. The gigantic dimensions of the ocean and mountains make the rest of the world to Karlikov. The waters of the fjords, pale green from the shoga from the so-called "glacial milk", then a strong wind wrinkles, then water tornadoes follow them, then snow is spinning over them. Dense clouds suddenly penetrate the sunlight of such strength and brightness that it resembles the Jacob staircase. All this brings the music of Wagner as a keepsake, only such colossal topics that Alaska gives him - “Flight Valkyrie”, “Ring of the Nibelungs”, “Tannheiser” - orchestrals of flashes of the northern lights.

Marina Efimova : The one who tries to look for the descendants of Russian settlers in Alaska will hardly find anyone. But he will find many Orthodox people. Says Professor Fisher.

Vic Fisher : In Alaska, now 60-70 Orthodox churches. True, most of their parishioners are Aleuta, the descendants of those whom Russian missionaries converted to Orthodoxy two centuries ago.

In Alaska now 60-70 Orthodox churches ... The Russian religion is alive and Russian names are familiar in Alaska

Most priests are Creole, their genus usually comes from the Russian father and mother-alelets or Eskimo. But the Russian religion is alive and Russian names are familiar in Alaska. One of our full -time senators call Ivan Ivanov. Can there be a more Russian name?

Marina Efimova : However, paradoxically, it is precisely those peoples who in the last century so successfully knew how to survive in harsh conditions of Alaska, even behind the polar circle - Aleuta, Indians, Eskimos - they are hardly adapted to the new American lifestyle of Alaska. Among them is the highest level of unemployment, they are mowed by severe alcoholism and early suicides. This is how this explains the anthropologist from Anchorija Stephen Langdon.

Stephen Langdon : When the young man reaches 15-16 years old, he needs to decide to be furnished in his community, where he was born, but where there are no great opportunities for a career and all the advantages of civilization, or he will have to move to the big city and join in the struggle for jobs and change the entire lifestyle. This choice between the fidelity of the family and the more promising future is very difficult for them. Interestingly, girls and young women more easily tolerate such changes, are faster in urban life, find work faster. Young men are more sensitive to their status. It is difficult for them to come to terms with the fact that they can work only by waiters in cheap cafes, while in their village they were miners, hunters and fishermen, and family breadwinners. They strive to correct the situation, but there are discrepancies between them in what to consider an improvement. A rather large part of the indigenous population considers it necessary to return to the forms of tribal life with its traditional local self -government. And the other believes that thanks to education, private entrepreneurship and assimilation, it will be possible to achieve more success. So the opinions dispersed. I think integration in the general American economy and subsequent assimilation will win. Isolationists will remain in the minority.

Marina Efimova : According to Professor Fisher, a possible update will bring new ties with Siberia to the indigenous inhabitants of Alaska. In any case, Fisher himself speaks about this with great enthusiasm.

Vic Fisher : For us, the connection with Russia, in my opinion, is the most significant and exciting event of recent years. When the iron curtain rose after perestroika (by the way, they say that the “icy curtains melted”), a lively bilateral connection with Siberia immediately began in Alaska, in particular, trade with the Magadan of food products, supplies to the Far Eastern coast of oil products, which from Alaska are much closer and cheaper than domestic ones. In addition, Russians purchase mining equipment for Yakutia, Magadan and Chukotka in Alaska.

When, after perestroika, the iron curtain rose (by the way, they say that the "icy curtain melted"), in Alaska, a lively bilateral connection with Siberia immediately began

But the main thing is, of course, human contacts. Когда-то аляскинские эскимосы пересекали Берингов пролив и навещали родственников в России, но потом началась холодная война и это было запрещено. А сейчас, с конца 80 годов, обе страны снова разрешили свободные путешествия через Берингов пролив, причем без визы, так что они там уже и торгуют, и рыбу вместе ловят в Беринговом море.

Марина Ефимова : Так что, пожалуйста, если у вас есть хорошая собачья упряжка и верный партнер, милости просим на Аляску. Но все же имейте в виду, что жить на Аляске и до сих пор могут только люди особого склада. Там катастрофически не хватает женщин и путей сообщения, до многих городов и поселков можно добраться лишь морем или самолетом. Причем маленьким самолетом с небольшой скоростью и высокой маневренностью. Поэтому из каждой тысячи аляскинцев пятьдесят – профессиональные летчики bush pilots, виртуозно владеющие искусством пилотирования маленьких самолетов. Посмотрите когда-нибудь на снимки аляскинских городов, снятые с самолета - на столицу штата город Джуно, на Анкоридж с его 200-тысячным населением… Вы увидите горстку строений, ютящихся на крошечном клочке ровной земли, между бескрайним океаном и бесконечными грядами гор. Какие качества нужны человеку, чтобы там жить - смирение или дерзость? Возможно, ответ дает одна из книг об Аляске, о неудачном и трагически закончившемся восхождении на пик Мак-Кинли. Эта книга открывается стихотворением Киплинга, которое, по-моему, можно сделать девизом аляскинцев - от золотоискателей времен Джека Лондона до bush pilots нашего времени. Им я и хочу закончить сегодняшнюю передачу.

Announcer :
Если ты способен встретиться лицом к лицу с триумфом и с провалом,
И принять обоих этих обманщиков с одинаковой стойкостью,
Тогда, мой сын, считай, что ты стал мужниной, и что земля - твоя.

Озеро Уандер. Alaska